


Absolute Hero

by Spyrogue



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, M/M, Romance, Slash, coldflash - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:49:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6119847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spyrogue/pseuds/Spyrogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of 2046, the Waverider crashes more than a month after the Legends left. With the ship lost, possibly forever, the Legends must return to the shambles of the lives they left, while joining forces with Team Flash immediately after the breaches to alternate worlds have been closed. What will they do now? And why are time travelers now struggling against the clock?<br/>AU before the end of LoT episode 1x5 and The Flash episode 2x14</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue- Taking the Plunge

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Legends up to episode 1x5 "Fail Safe" and The Flash episode 2x14 "Escape from Earth-2"
> 
> Hi! I'm hoping to make this a long epic story, it'll be super different from the shows but I'm keeping it as canon as possible. This is my first slash, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.  
> Rating may go up.
> 
> EDIT 3/10/16- So I'm realizing this is actually the prologue. Future chapters will be longer. The rating DID go up, lol.

          The explosion that rocked the _Waverider_ slammed Leonard Snart, and everyone else, into their restraints with enough force that he was surprised he hadn’t cracked a rib. Sparks illuminated the interior of the time ship in fits and starts, accompanied by the shrieking wails of various alarms and sensors. It was rather like being on a roller coaster from hell.

          “Sir, we’re being knocked out of the time stream. I am attempting to correct our course.”

          The vessel abruptly spun, causing Ray and Mick to hold their hands over their mouths. Apparently neither fancied dying covered in vomit. Len glanced at the rest of their little troupe. They all looked grim and afraid. No one spoke.

          “We can manage to reach somewhere in the American Midwest, in 2016. My calculations cannot be more precise. Please brace for impact.”

          “Thank God!” Ray breathed.

          “Thank Gideon if we don’t die.” Len snapped, gripping the restraints in white-knuckled hands. “It’s not over yet Raymond.”

          They passed through a brief world of unearthly green streams as they left the time stream. It was strangely beautiful in an utterly terrifying sort of way.

          “What’s happening now?” Jax asked quietly.

          “It means we’re crash landing. In space and time.” Rip looked no better than the rest of them. He held the pocket watch he’d retrieved from Savage, staring at the faces of his family.

          “We can still make it, right?” Mick turned to Len for answers, just like he always did.

          Any reply he could have made was cut off as they left the time stream, passing into an expanse of dark grey clouds. Then they began to drop.

          “Engines non-responsive. Shields non-responsive. Cloaking… enabled.” Gideon stated calmly. At least the computer would keep a clear head. “System rebooting.”

          The cacophony of noises alerting them to the damage they’d taken, along with the normal humming and whirring noises that signaled the ship was in motion, immediately ceased. There was no sound but the whistle of air past the plummeting ship.

          “Systems restarting. Engines at 20% capacity.” The digital disembodied head informed them. The alarms were still eerily silent. Len suddenly felt their fall slow slightly. It wouldn’t be enough.

          “That is the best I can do, sir.” At least the AI sounded contrite. “One moment.”

          Len was pretty sure all of them were holding their breath.

          “Projected course puts us crashing into a lake outside of Smallville, Kansas.”

          “So which is it, dying like crash test dummies, or sleeping with the fishes?” Len asked. He wasn’t sure what kind of answer he was hoping for. There was no reply for several precious seconds.

          “I’m sorry. I don’t know Mr. Snart.” The AI said in a small voice. “Please brace for impact.”

          They slammed into the surface of the lake, sparks erupting from several terminals. Kendra screamed. They were sinking now. After several long, tense moments the _Waverider_ hit the bottom of the lake, the impact much gentler than the previous ones. There was a screech of tearing metal, then the dark and quiet interior of the ship was deafening. Len looked down. Freezing cold water had begun to run past his feet, soaking into his shoes.

          “We made it!” Mick said, grinning, trying to stand.

          “We’re at the bottom of a lake in a leaky bucket of bolts. “Making it” might be a bit of an overstatement.” Len retorted. He had to force the restraint bar off, the mechanism had been damaged.

          “We need to leave the ship immediately.” Stein stated forcefully, gripping Jax’s arm to lever himself up.

          “Can we take the drop ship?” Sara asked. She was hauling Ray over to the others, gently, but with an ease that belied her smaller stature.

          “The d-d- drop ship is non op- operational.” Gideon’s face and voice were cutting in and out. Dim red runners along the ground were the only other light. The ship they’d come to know now seemed all too much like a tomb.

          “Let’s move, people!” Rip shouted. He stood, ripping a small device from the arm of his seat, pocket watch secured in an interior pocket of his coat. Gideon was abruptly gone as soon as the device was taken.

          “I’m not going to be able to swim.” Ray said, leaning on Sara. It looked like he was finally starting to regret that beating he took in the gulag.

          “I’ve got you.” She settled his arm around her shoulders. He smiled gratefully, but he still looked like he was going to puke.

          The water was rushing past their knees now, frigid enough that Len’s feet were already numb. They all splashed over to the starboard wall, gasping and hauling one another forward.

          “Snart! Make us a door!” Rip barked.

          “Hold on to something. That water’s going to come in fast.” The team of misfits tried to secure themselves as best they could. Len fired the cold gun at the wall, keeping the stream on the same spot, slowly covering a wider area. The water was up to their hips when the water pressure caused the weakened area of the hull to buckle, then break.

          They hung on to their handholds, sucking in air. The lake rushed in over them, filling the cabin almost immediately. The team struggled to the hole in the wall, fighting the icy current. It was just large enough for one person to exit at a time. Jax pushed the professor through, then turned to help Sara shove Ray after him. Len had one brief moment of absurdity to wonder if there was a reason they hadn’t formed Firestorm, or they’d completely forgotten in blind panic.

          When they all managed to leave the wrecked ship, swimming in a loose formation, Rip looked back over his shoulder. Len would have snorted if he didn’t need the air. The damage was bad, but perhaps they could repair it. After they survived, and if they could fish a spaceship out of a lake completely unnoticed with 2016 technology.

          Kendra had seized Stein’s arm and begun beating her wings, dragging the old man to the surface with surprising speed. She stopped briefly, but from below Len couldn’t see why or what she was doing. Then there was a huge cracking sound, distorted by the lake around them. Jax and Sara hauled Ray between them, the injured man kicking feebly at the water. The rest of them managed on their own, lungs burning by the time they reached the surface.

          “Did we all make it? Mick asked, checking his gun and treading water. Rip did a head count. They were all safe. Well… safe-ish.

          Len looked around. It was winter, the barren Kansas landscape covered in several feet of snow. Wind cut through them all like a knife; snow was coming down in clouds. Kendra had smashed a large hole for them in the foot thick ice covering the lake with her mace. Bubbles were still rising from a larger gap in the ice several meters away. Len had a sudden chilling thought that had he been in this situation without the team, he’d certainly be dead.

          “Shore’s this way.” Len began climbing onto the ice; the rest followed, slipping nervously over the cracked surface. Len couldn’t feel any part of himself any more, he just struggled forward stubbornly. They’d try to find a way to survive out here after they’d reached land.

          When they did meet the shore, Mick began pushing the shoulder high snow back, giving them room to sit. The heat gun wasn’t waterproof. Len made a mental note to fix that if they didn’t die of exposure.

          “I never thought I’d be so happy to see solid ground.” Jax sat gratefully. Everyone collapsed around him, breathing hard and shivering uncontrollably.

          Len checked his weapon for damage. If the core had been cracked, he’d be a dead man. Luckily the gun was intact; ironically the cold gun was working fine. It was also the only thing that could make this situation worse.

          Hypothermia was clearly setting in for them all. The shivering had stopped. Mick was trying to remove his still-dripping shirt. Len couldn’t remember if that was a good idea or not, which was strange. He always remembered everything… didn’t he? They weren’t going to make it. Len felt sleepy and warm. Lisa was going to kill him for dying.

          Everything had gotten very hazy, so he didn’t know how long it was until a figure in red was bending over him. He was speaking to Len. Who was that man again?

          He was being moved, but couldn’t tell much else. He’d closed his eyes against the cold air. There was an unbelievable rushing sensation for what felt like forever, then it stopped. Len cracked one eye open long enough to see a shiny silver room, and the man in red looking distraught.

          Barry. That was his name. Barry Allen. Len sighed and closed his eye again, falling into unconsciousness with the alien yet comforting thought that he was safe.


	2. All That Glitters is Cold('s Hot Sister)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> STORY SUMMARY: Instead of 2046, the Waverider crashes more than a month after the Legends left. With the ship lost, possibly forever, the Legends must return to the shambles of the lives they left, while joining forces with Team Flash immediately after the breaches to alternate worlds have been closed. What will they do now? And why are time travelers now struggling against the clock?  
> AU before the end of LoT episode 1x5 and The Flash episode 2x14  
> _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> CHAPTER SUMMARY: Cisco gets tangled up with Golden Glider in all the best ways. Strangely, she's IN trouble instead of BEING the trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, so flattered by the response to the first part. Thank you for reading and leaving kudos, everybody! Apparently, this story IS going to be quite long. Also, fast burn GoldenVibe but slow burn ColdFlash. All of the best burns! Hopefully a good balance plus some other pairings later. This chapter ambushed me, but I regret nothing! Enjoy!

 

11 PM, New Year’s Eve 2015, Central City

      Cisco supposed he really should have known better than to go to his brother’s New Year’s party. They were getting along better than they had before that whole kidnapping incident, but Cisco was still surrounded by people he didn’t know who were more likely to look down their noses at his rented tux than give him the time of day. He finished his glass of champagne and snatched another from a pimpled passing waiter who somehow managed to look better dressed than Cisco.

      Caitlin had taken Jay to see the ball drop in New York (something else they didn’t have on Earth-2); Harry was working as usual. Barry, Joe, and Iris were hanging at the CCPD with off-duty cops, staff, and their families. Cisco just wished he’d made plans that didn’t make him feel like he was back in high school with no date to the dance. It would be yet another New Year’s with no one to kiss at midnight. Surprise, surprise.

      He grimaced and headed to a small rooftop greenhouse to be alone. He had reached the “sad drunk” point of the evening and had no intention of these nasty, fancy people seeing him like this. So he easily disconnected the alarm and slipped into the glass-topped room, leaning against a counter topped with extravagant orchids.

      The champagne had been quickly losing its fizzy appeal when he heard the door close quietly behind him. Cisco turned to find he was no longer alone in the greenhouse. Lisa Snart was standing not ten feet from him, looking gorgeous (though when did she not?) in a floor-length gown of gold silk which brought out the same tones in the highlights of her hair. Leave it to the Snart siblings to always stay in character.

      “Hi.” She said, holding her own flute of champagne, face a little flushed. Was she drunk?

      “Hi, Glider. Fancy meeting you here. Have the Rogues stolen anything good lately?”

      Was that really the best he could do? He didn’t really want her to leave, criminal or not.

      “No.” She pouted. It was such an appealing pout. “I’m all on my own. I hate being alone, Cisco.”

      “Doesn’t everybody?” He asked nervously, sipping his drink. “What are you doing here?”

      She was slowly getting closer, staring him down. “I wanted to see you. Didn’t you miss me?”

      Of course he did. He hadn’t had a date since his last love interest had pitched herself off a skyscraper and sprouted wings. Oh, and she had a reincarnating soul mate with wicked abs. So unfair.

      Lisa was close enough for him to smell her perfume, something flowery; he couldn’t even try to guess what it was. But it was nice, and she’d placed a manicured hand on his shoulder. She was gorgeous, taller than him even without the heels, dressed like a movie star. Why the hell was she here?

      He had about three seconds to wonder that before a vision hit him like a runaway Mack truck. Usually they seemed dreamlike, ephemeral. Not this one.

      Cisco was lying in a gigantic, luxurious bed decked out in soft black sheets that felt cool against his skin. He could tell he wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of boxers, which only seemed fair.

      Lisa wasn’t wearing anything but a truly spectacular matching set of black and gold lace lingerie. He could feel her hands running down his chest, her smooth thighs gripping his hips as she looked down at him. She smiled, gently dangerous. Lisa was leaning forward, brown curls brushing his neck as he realized she didn’t wear perfume; that was the scent of her hair-

      Cisco came back to reality with a jolt to find her face as close as it had been in the vision, concerned and lovely. And suddenly he was tired of being cautious and miserable, and didn’t want to think too much about what the vision meant. So Cisco, filled with liquid courage, buried his hand in the aforementioned impossibly silky hair and kissed her like the world was ending.

      It was perfect. Lisa immediately kissed him back, matching his enthusiasm easily. His other hand was somehow on her waist; she’d thrown one slender arm around his neck and tossed her glass behind her to shatter on the tile floor before gripping the lapel of his cheap tuxedo in the now empty hand.

      He couldn’t breathe. Cisco was pretty sure he didn’t even want to anymore. Lisa had pressed herself to him tightly, the smooth fabric of her dress felt amazing as he moved both arms to hold her even tighter. Her mouth somehow managed to taste even better than he remembered. He moaned softly as Lisa’s tongue swept across his lips, and suddenly she was practically devouring him.

      Cisco let his hands begin mapping every part of her that he could reach as he slanted his mouth against hers, gasping. He could feel her pulling at the stupid bow tie, yanking the buttons of his collar open until several finally popped off.

      He pulled back briefly, opening his eyes to mention that the suit was not in fact his, trying to get his bearings. When had he closed his eyes exactly?

      “I’ll buy you a new one.” Lisa purred as she trailed her hands down his torso, sliding her hands beneath his jacket.

      And, well, Cisco had no response to that. So he just leaned in to claim her lips again. She eagerly slid her tongue along his; he groaned again when she lightly bit his lower lip. One of his hands had found the slit in the skirt of her dress, hiked up so she could rub her long, smooth leg against his thigh. As he slowly moved his hand to caress her bare skin she made a soft noise that he wanted to hear again. And again, and again-

      While there were clearly fireworks happening inside the greenhouse, Cisco could suddenly see bursts of colored light behind his closed eyelids (seriously, he had not meant to shut his eyes again). They broke apart, disheveled and grinning, to look up through the glass ceiling at the brilliant display of pyrotechnics.

      “Happy fucking New Year to me!” Cisco cheered, which made Lisa laugh and press her head to the crook of his neck as they remained in their embrace, gazing up at the fireworks together.

      And that was precisely when his brother, along with several prominent party guests, stepped into the greenhouse to join them. To Cisco’s mixed horror and delight, he recognized a prominent actor, two people who had made high school a living hell for him, and his mother.

      It was difficult to say how it could have been more awkward, but his foot-in-mouth syndrome prevailed in the end.

      “This-" He gestured between Lisa and himself. “Is EXACTLY what it looks like.”

      And Lisa was laughing her pretty, merry laugh again, slinging an arm around him possessively. His brother was gaping like a fish. Lisa was way hotter than his date. Bonus points for the nerd!

      “Want to ditch this boring party, Cisco? I’ll make it worth your while.” She was smirking like a Cheshire cat, seizing one of his hands. Cisco’s mother had buried her eyes in her hand, speaking in soft, rapid Spanish.

      “Can we get some real food? I never really got the appeal of fish eggs.” And he felt stupid, because what if she was inviting him back to her place and he’d ruined something?

      But his golden goddess paused as if considering him all over again, disheveled ponytail, scuffed converse, crappy tuxedo and all. Somehow Lisa’s smile grew even brighter, and she began towing him past all of those important people in her expensive…well, everything probably, and simply said-

      “Only if we can go to the Motorcar. I am desperate for some pancakes.” She declared loftily, smirking.

      Cisco was practically skipping as he followed her to the door. “Oh, hell yes!”

      He was stopped abruptly by his brother’s hand on his arm. Dante looked very serious, like he usually did when he was about to be a colossal dick.

      “Hermano, you had better marry that woman _immediately_.”

      Cisco just shrugged (not blushing!) and followed Lisa to the bay of elevators. His brother somberly gave him a thumbs up.

 

* * *

 

      After they’d spent hours having the most fun Cisco'd had in ages Lisa left a crisp fifty dollar bill on the table as she left, shrugging on her long black coat against the January night. When Cisco looked quizzically at her, she shrugged.

“I’ve been a waitress. The pay is nearly as shitty as the job and the hours. The drunk shift on New Year's Eve is hell. Besides, it’s not like I have to keep to a budget.” Lisa grinned at him as she flagged down a passing cab.

Cisco returned the smile and opened the cab door for her, bowing mockingly. She chuckled, hauled him against the cab, and gave him a good night kiss that Cisco thought would linger for days.

“See you around, lover boy. I had a great time with you tonight; just what I needed. You have some sweet dreams, okay?”

      He couldn’t manage much besides a punch-drunk smile as he waved at the cab’s tail lights before walking back to his car, humming to himself. It took considerably longer than it normally would have. He was too giddy to find his vehicle.

Cisco shuffled into his shabby one bedroom apartment at three in the morning, absolutely desperate for sleep. It wasn’t until he was sliding into his bed that Cisco had a horrifying realization that struck him like a lightning bolt.  He hadn’t gotten Lisa’s number. He had no idea if she would be in town the next day, or if she’d even want to see him again. It had been something between them, right? So what the hell was he going to do now?

      He growled and buried himself in his blankets, unable to turn his brain off despite the late hour. Could he find her? Would it be creepy or borderline stalker-ish to even try? Every time Cisco closed his eyes he was haunted by the vision he’d seen when she’d touched his shoulder. But when he opened them, Lisa wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t get much sleep after that.

      When team Flash went back to work Cisco was moody, and refused to talk to anyone about why. He’d go from daydreaming about New Year’s to snapping out of it and berating himself for being hung up on Lisa so badly after one night, especially when he didn’t know if he’d see her again.

After four days of moping and alienating everyone around him he had nearly convinced himself it couldn’t have been real. He stalked back to his place after a particularly trying day with bags of junk food and alcohol and tried not to let the little voice in the back of his head (it always sounded _exactly_ like Caitlin) tell him it was childish and irresponsible to behave this way.

      Cisco was understandably more than a little surprised to find his front door unlocked. But he was completely flabbergasted to find Lisa curled up on his couch wearing faded yoga pants and his favorite Firefly t-shirt.

      “I’m sorry sweetie, but I meant it when I said I hate being alone.”

      She hadn’t been crying, but her eyes were shiny and bloodshot, and she hugged her knees like she wanted to take up as little space as possible tucked into the corner of his old couch.

      So he dumped everything he’d gotten for his own pity party by the door, just happy to see her again, and gathered several blankets and pillows to try to get them both comfortable on his couch. Cisco had tried to give Lisa some space, but she practically climbed into his lap, cocooning them both in a giant quilt his grandmother had made him ages ago.

      “Why do you keep saying you’re alone?” He murmured into the top of her head, stroking her back. She was nice to hold, and he just had to find out what made her smell so maddeningly sweet.

      “Oh, Cisco…” There was a long pause before he felt her start to shake. She’d finally started to cry. He rubbed his hands over her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

      “Lenny and Mick are gone!” She wailed, squeezing him until he couldn’t breathe.

      She wept for a long time after that, and he managed to pry the whole story out of her. Lisa had seen her brother on Christmas as he dropped off a necklace he’d gotten (stolen) for her as a Christmas present. Canary diamonds from some old woman who never wore them anyway. Lisa had been wearing that necklace on New Year’s, though her jewelry had definitely not been high on Cisco’s list of things that were important about that night.

      The siblings were supposed to get coffee the next day. Cold had never shown. When Lisa had tried to call her brother, then Mick, she discovered that both of their phone numbers were suddenly out of service. So she’d gone to the house they’d been staying in. Their bags had been packed. They hadn’t left a note.

      Lisa had, apparently, been spending the last week frantically, desperately searching for some trace of them. She couldn’t find anything. They’d completely disappeared.

      “I called in _every_ favor, _every_ marker, and not one fucking trace! And my brother is everything to me, Cisco! He always tells me before taking off; I’m so worried. I have no one else! Nothing else!”

      He tried to console her as she cried herself out, periodically shouting angrily and waving her hands emphatically before burying her face into his t-shirt, which was quickly becoming wet with her tears. When Lisa finally quieted, he just sat there with her for long moments, stroking her back.

      “I’m sorry to do this to you, Cisco. You’re such a nice guy; I’m a mess. You don’t deserve me breaking into your place and ruining everything-“

      He kissed her then, because Cisco didn’t care about any of it, and because he’d already become addicted to her lips. He pulled back to cup her face in both his hands, wiping her tears away. Lisa was an awful wreck, mascara running, eyes and nose all red and puffy. Cisco still thought she looked beautiful. That was the moment he knew he’d already gotten in too deep. He couldn’t bring himself to care about that either.

      “I’ll help.”

      Those words had not been planned. Help look for Captain Cold and Heatwave? The guys who’d hurt his friends and family? That was completely insane!

      But Lisa looked at him so hopefully and gratefully he couldn’t take it back. He _was_ crazy. Cisco was completely bananas for Lisa Snart after a few brief interludes. So he was going to find her brother whether anybody liked it or not.

      Cisco told her that he’d get everyone he knew looking for them (except the police, who might get the wrong idea). He promised they’d find Heatwave and Cold, no matter what. He’d retask satellites, hack security feeds, whatever it took.

      And besides, two supervillains vanishing with his tech was cause for concern for everyone. It was something the team needed to know about. At least he hoped it was, it was the only excuse Cisco could think of on such short notice.

      “We’ll start tomorrow, okay Lisa?”

      She nodded, and started kissing his hands, so relieved that Cisco was a little unsure what she’d do next.

      “Can I stay with you tonight?”

      “Yes! Definitely! I mean-“ He hadn’t meant to sound so eager, what if she thought he was trying to take advantage of her? “You can stay in my room, I’ll stay on the couch. Do you want to take a shower or a bath or something? Not with me, though! Uh, I- Crap, why do I sound like Felicity?”

      Lisa smiled shyly at him. Cisco wasn’t even aware she could do shy.

      “Can I have a towel and a shower, and then we can go from there?”

      “Yes! Um, towels-“

      He tripped on his coffee table before lurching forward. Cisco was suddenly alarmingly aware of how messy his apartment was. He’d have to clean while she was in the shower. Maybe she wouldn’t notice. Oh, god, he had to change the sheets!

      Cisco managed to find a clean towel fairly quickly. The moment Lisa shut herself in his tiny bathroom he began frantically cleaning his apartment, taking out the trash and making the bed, spraying some air freshener nervously. He really hoped Lisa liked cinnamon apple, because now his whole apartment smelled vaguely of chemicals and pie. This was, however, an improvement over old socks and stale Chinese.

      Cisco heard the door open as he was shoving his dirty laundry into his closet, and turned his head. She’d put the same clothes back on, a relief and a disappointment. Why couldn’t things be simple with her? Lisa wrung the towel in her hands, standing awkwardly by the door.

      “Um, Are you hungry?” Cisco blurted. “I don’t have pancakes, but I picked up cookie dough and beer.” Stupid! Who else would possibly want to eat-

      “That sounds _amazing_. I didn’t eat much today.” Lisa paused, hanging his towel over the bedroom door. “Can we just watch TV or something? I’d really like to feel normal right now.”

      So the bags of junk food were all opened and devoured as they watched the most mindless drivel they could find and drank all the beer. It was really pleasant. Cisco was still as nervous as he always was around women he was interested in, but he would never in a million years have thought Golden Glider would enjoy a quiet night in with a six pack.  

      She shifted towards him sleepily. “Come to bed with me, Cisco.”

      She sure as _hell_ kept him on his toes.

      “Like… to sleep?” He asked, with the alarmed caution one uses to disarm a bomb.

      “Yes. Stay with me?” She blushed and pushed her hair away from her face. “If you don’t mind.”

      And that was how Cisco Ramon ended up in bed with Lisa Snart. He was actually glad that Captain Cold was missing for tonight, if only because he enjoyed having all his parts, and did not think Lisa would like him so much if he were an ice sculpture.

      Lisa had snuggled into him like Cisco was her own personal teddy bear and promptly fell asleep, breath tickling his neck. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to share a bed with a woman for the night, it’d been so long. He just stared at her sleeping face until his eyes grew heavy, drifting off with her fingers twined around his.

 

* * *

 

 

“Have you utterly lost it?!” Caitlin asked Cisco the next morning in an exasperated whisper.

“I can hear you.” Lisa deadpanned, sipping her coffee as she sat idly on the counter in S.T.A.R. Labs.

He’d woken that morning to an alarmingly empty bed. Upon frantic investigation of his apartment, desperate for her to be there somewhere, Cisco found a note taped to his fridge and the coffeepot gurgling away.

_Hey Cisco,_

_I’m sorry to cut and run, but I didn’t want to wake you and I really have to run back to my place to get some things and change. I’ll see you later today to talk about finding Lenny. You’re the best, babe._

_Lisa_

Under the note was a phone number and a smudge of lipstick where she’d kissed the paper. She had, however, taken his Firefly shirt. Cisco supposed it was an even trade. He was smiling like a loon as he drank the coffee and got ready for work, dreading the conversation that was to follow.

Three hours later the agonizing decision of how to tell Team Flash about his promise to (and possible relationship with?) Lisa had been taken out of his hands entirely when she’d strolled right into his workplace with  enough breakfast and Flash drinks for everyone.

Cisco thought the reactions of his friends and coworkers were comical, although legitimate and nerve-wracking. Iris’ eyebrows were raised practically to her hairline, but she otherwise remained silent and calculating. Joe had mercifully been away from the lab arresting other people. Harry seemed irritated with the interruption, but at least he hadn’t had Caitlin’s frosty approach.

“No.” Dr. Snow had adamantly refused to help, and wouldn’t even touch the food. It was possible she may have been slightly alarmed that Cisco’s “little girlfriend” as she’d put it, had brought her a gluten-free blueberry muffin, which was both her favorite and the only pastry she’d eat from Jitters.

And the Flash? He was late to the party as usual. He didn’t arrive until ten minutes of hostile silence had past, whooshing in and scattering their files everywhere despite all of the paperweights Caitlin had put down.

“Hey guys, what’s up? Any news on the breaches?”

Barry, in his regular clothes, with his shoes still smoking a bit from his light morning jog, cheerfully grabbed a bear claw and a coffee before realizing who he’d just walked past,whirling around in shock and spilling the hot drink all over himself.

“Ow ow ow, holy hell, that burns! What- Why?” He put his breakfast down and stared at Lisa, gaping like a fish.

“Hello again Barry Allen, so nice to meet the real you in person.” Lisa resumed eating her muffin calmly.

“How did you know- Did Snart-?” Barry seemed betrayed at the thought.

“No, my big brother didn’t tell me. It was pretty easy to figure out, really. I know you all have goody-goody mindsets but your security is the saddest I’ve seen since a bank in rural Arkansas.”

“Hey!” Cisco exclaimed. Those were his security measures!

“Sorry sweet cheeks, but putting cameras everywhere doesn’t keep people out, it makes you easier to spy on. As to Flashie’s ID? He’s listed as the owner to this building, is the only member of your little gang I’ve never seen at one of our… let’s say altercations? and he and the Flash have never _ever_ been seen together. That’s not even all I got from a basic Google search.”

She should have dropped a mike.

“So are you going to look for Lenny or what?” She asked, cocking her head. Cisco underlined a previous mental note he’d made. Never, ever mess with this family.

“What, has he been kidnapped again?” Barry asked. He seemed the least concerned out of all of them that Lisa apparently knew his secret identity and base of operations like she’d been there all along.

“I don’t know. It’s like he and Mick just vanished into thin air. I can’t find _anything_. Do you think I would be here if I weren’t desperate? Especially for a second time?”

Barry considered this while chomping down on any unsecured food he could find. Caitlin really needed to figure out those Flash nutrition bars before they all went broke from grocery expenses. Lisa attempted to stare Barry down but unlike, oh, everyone else in the room that had met Lisa before, he didn’t seem to notice.

“Okay, so tell me what you do know. When did you see them last?”

Lisa grumpily told the whole story to the group as Cisco did a preliminary computer search. Zilch. Nothing in the news since Cold’s escape, no hits on facial recognition software. He scowled at the computer before beginning to type furiously as the others brainstormed. Except Harry, who immediately dismissed the idea that the breaches were involved (and wasn’t that a fun story to tell Lisa about) since they’d surveilled or closed all of them for some time now. Then the peevish scientist left them to their search, muttering about interruptions.

It was much later in the day when Barry put a hand on Cisco’s shoulder. He’d found no trace. They had no ideas left.

“Dude, it’s time to call her.”

“I don’t need her help! I’ll have you know I’m an excellent hacker! One of the best in the business!” Cisco shouted, eyes burning from staring at screens all day.

“Reeeeeally?” Lisa asked from her seat next to him. He almost hadn’t noticed how close she’d stayed all day. Almost.

“Never mind, Lisa! You can’t borrow Cisco for cybercrime!” Barry barked at her.

“And what, precisely, do you call this?” She cocked her head and swept a hand at the monitor currently showing the highly classified inner databases of Interpol.

“That’s different!” Barry seemed to know he was being a hypocrite, at least. He seized the keyboard from Cisco faster than the shorter man could see, and punched in a few buttons.

A Skype call was now showing on the largest screen. The ringing tones echoed through the nearly empty labs. It was just the three of them left searching now. The others had gone home for the day.

“Hey guys! Long time no see! How’s the hero business- Oh. Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met?” Felicity Smoak’s face took up the screen, hair in a messy bun and glasses slightly askew.

Lisa gave a little wave at the camera and they gave brief introductions before getting down to business.

“We’ve got two missing people we need your help to find, Felicity. There’s no trace online, they’ve been gone for a week, and we’ve got nothing.” Barry said as Cisco scowled.

“Oh, gosh, that’s awful. I’ll see what I can do. Who am I looking for?”

“My brother, Leonard Snart AKA Captain Cold-” Lisa grinned at Cisco briefly “-and his partner, Mick Rory. Or Heatwave if you’d prefer.”

Felicity froze, eyes going wide. She bit her lip and looked guilty.

“You mean- You guys- Nobody told you- Oh, Jeez. This is not going to be pretty.”

“If you know something, you’d better spit it out, four eyes! Where. Is. My. Brother?” Lisa had stood angrily, and if looks could kill through the Internet, Felicity might have had a problem.

“I don’t know _all_ of the details, but the long and short of it? A guy from the future showed up in a spaceship, recruited them and a bunch of our hero buddies, and ran off on a mission through space and time to save the world from an unkillable super-tyrant.”

There was no sound or movement from any of them for quite some time. There were no words, Cisco thought. No words that could possibly come close to-

“THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?!?” Lisa shrieked, throwing her hands up in enraged confusion.

Well. Those words just might cut it.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never actually written romance before, and I'm still super nervous about writing the raunchy stuff. So this came out of nowhere and I'm just along for the ride. Whee! And seriously, am I the only one wondering why the Legends never bothered to tell Team Flash what they were doing but told Team Arrow? I'm rambling. More notes on blog/tumblr probably! Messages, reblogs, reviews, all of these are welcomed and appreciated!


	3. The Cold Snap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> STORY SUMMARY: Instead of 2046, the Waverider crashes more than a month after the Legends left. With the ship lost, possibly forever, the Legends must return to the shambles of the lives they left, while joining forces with Team Flash immediately after the breaches to alternate worlds have been closed. What will they do now? And why are time travelers now struggling against the clock?  
> AU before the end of LoT episode 1x5 and The Flash episode 2x14  
> _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> CHAPTER SUMMARY: The Legends awaken, and Team Flash is PISSED.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the fabulous feedback! Please enjoy, hope you like reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it!

He was suffocating. It was hot, and he was being strangled, wrapped up in something that kept him immobile. It was the first and only thought Len had when he snapped awake in the sterile infirmary at S.T.A.R. Labs. His initial panic and struggle with his bedding went mercifully unnoticed as he sat alone in the too-bright room and sucked in huge breaths of mercifully chilly air.

There were few things he hated more than medical settings. Having his movements restricted in any way topped that short list of things that scared him, really shook him up. And now he was getting both hells for the price of one.

Len forced himself to stop panicking slowly, pushing the institutional white sheets away from himself and immediately began removing his I.V. and anything else stuck to him that he hadn’t been awake to consent to. The room was a spartan white box just like any of the others it seemed he’d spent his whole life in, and someone had dressed him in grey S.T.A.R. Labs sweats that were all too similar to what he’d been given to wear in prison. The only bittersweet consolation Len had was that he was the only one in the room, and that it wasn’t like Team Flash was going to lock the damn door.

He unhurriedly rose from the bed, stretching tired, sickly muscles in a businesslike sort of way. Len cased the room again, walking to the only exit. Exactly how long had he been unconscious? Were his ill-fated comrades even alive? Where the hell was Mick?

The fucking door _was_ locked. He pounded on it for a few moments before stopping, reeling himself back in. Calm down. Never let them see you sweat. He pressed his forehead to the cool metal doorjamb, trying to control his breathing. Leonard Snart had been awake for four minutes and twenty seven seconds and whatever day it was, he could feel in his bones it was going to be a really shitty one.

The door opened without sound or warning and suddenly Barry Allen’s face was six inches from his own. Len was struck by the strangest thought that there were worse faces to wake up to than his nemesis’s.

“You were supposed to stay in bed until Caitlin checked you out! Are you nuts? You’re recovering from severe hypothermia! Lay back down, you idiot!”

And the Flash was feeling sassy. Peachy. Len wasn’t yet in the mood to comment or poke fun.

“No.” He growled.

“No? What the hell, man? Just-”

Barry was abruptly cut off by a sharp voice coming from beyond the door.

“He’s awake, isn’t he? Let me in. Now!”

The clicking of her heels and sound of her gait were enough for Len to identify the speaker before she had begun sharpening her tongue on his erstwhile nursemaid. Lisa. Fuck.

His sister rudely shoved past Barry into the little room to stalk towards Len. She paused, a roulette wheel of emotion passing over her lovely face. Concern, relief, frustration, exhaustion, love. After sixteen seconds, she landed on rage.

Then she decked him right in the face without warning or restraint. There was an explosion of copper on his tongue and down his throat. Everything was red for a moment before he got his bearings again. Barry was shouting. Len was a bit more concerned with the insufferable ringing in his ears. Damn, but Lisa had one _hell_ of a right cross.

Before he was entirely aware of what was happening, she’d thrown both arms around his neck and tightened like a goddamn boa constrictor, getting the blood that streamed freely from his nose all over her clothes and hair as she buried her face in his neck.

Len’s hearing returned in a rush as she wailed loudly in his ear.

“If you ever scare me like that again I’ll kill you with my bare hands!”

Then the crying started. Len knew better than to try to detach Lisa from himself, shifting his awkward hold on her as Barry glared balefully at him from his position by the door. What had he done to deserve that look? Eleven minutes, forty eight seconds. Yep. Today was going to be fucking fantastic.

 

* * *

 

 

Apparently Len had woken up at 4:34 AM, February 8th, 2016. The team had been gone since December 27th, meaning they had been absent one month and twelve days. No wonder Lisa was so pissed.

Dr. Snow was brusque when she treated his nose and checked his vitals before giving Len a clean bill of health, along with a change of clothes he recognized as his own. Lisa must have brought them.

Rip’s group had emerged from their brush with death unscathed, though Caitlin was following Stein wherever he went as if she could ward off age-related complications with force of will. If anyone could, it was her. Mick was still chuckling over Len’s bloody nose. There were no discussions of missions, metahumans, or time travel as Rip’s team were cleared by Dr. Snow one by one. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement to wait until all of them were together.

When Martin’s final test had come back with good results they gathered in a little-used room where S.T.A.R. Labs had once given presentations and press conferences. It was late afternoon now, orange light filtering through small windows set near the top of the high-ceilinged room. Chairs had been pulled onto the stage in a rough approximation of a circle. The crew of the _Waverider_ on one side, the Flash, Caitlin Snow, Joe and Iris West, Cisco Ramon, Len’s baby sister, a young brunette woman he didn’t know, and somehow Harrison fucking Wells on the other.

The sheer tension that came with the extended silence finally snapped when Cisco asked petulantly-

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

Professor Stein, Raymond, and Kendra looked guiltily at the floor. Len decided to let things play out without adding anything that might renew his sister’s desire to wring his neck and adopted a neutral facade.

Rip spoke up. “I saw no reason to get you involved. Our mission was none of your concern-”

“None of our concern?” Barry exclaimed incredulously. He’d worn his Flash suit to the meeting, preserving his identity from the few people in the room who didn’t know him. “You can’t be serious. You do know that we killed Savage ourselves a while back, right? And that several of the people you shanghaied into a suicide mission are _friends_ of ours?”

“Not to mention family.” Lisa snapped. She’d placed her chair close enough to Cisco’s to hold the engineer's hand in a death grip.

“Martin, are you seriously telling me you got onto that ship with a complete stranger without telling Clarissa? Without, oh I don’t know, consulting the only person you know who has fucking time traveled before?” The Flash was stuck between disbelief and fury.

“I didn’t want to worry-” The old man did look guilty.

“Well that really worked out, didn’t it?” Cisco had a slightly sulkier expression. “I thought you guys trusted us.”

“We do!” Ray and said nervously.

“So you told Green Arrow, and only Green Arrow?” Cisco berated the Atom. “Kendra you could’ve come to me- Ow!” Lisa let go of his hand guiltily only to wrap one arm around Cisco’s. “I am very disappointed in you, missy!” He finished nervously, glancing between the two women.

Caitlin was perhaps even colder than Len as she turned back to Stein. “You officiated my _wedding_ . With everything that happened with Ronnie, I consider you family, Martin. Clarissa and I were _very upset_ when we heard what happened. She’s fine, by the way. Says she understands. I’m glad someone does.”

Rip cut back in, “I realize things didn’t go according to plan and that there are ramifications-”

“Ramifications like covering for Jax to his mother?” Cisco asked, brow furrowed. “She’s fine too, Jax, we looked after her while you were gone.” Jax nodded gratefully and was about to speak before Cisco cut him off. “A friend wrote a program to mimic your voice from various samples. I’ve been pretending to be you once a week since we found out. Said you’d been given a shot at last minute reconstructive surgery on your knee. You should probably tell her about Firestorm, though. She’s been pretty skeptical.”

Jax hung his head. Martin said in a small voice, “Jefferson didn’t want to come, initially. It was my doing. There are no words to express how much I regret how each of you must have suffered. I’m sorry, Cisco.”

Cisco nodded tersely as Lisa pressed herself closer to him. Len couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“What else have we missed while we were gone?”

“I’m dating your sister, asshole.” Cisco met Len’s gaze without even flinching.

Mick barked out another laugh. Lisa glared him back into silence before Cisco spoke again.

“Team Arrow is en route, should be here any moment. Clarissa said she’d wait at home for Professor Stein. Mrs. Jackson is at her home as well. The Arrows have been covering for Ray. David Bowie and Alan Rickman died. The Broncos won the Superbowl. A psycho monster speedster was terrorizing the city before we closed a bunch of holes between dimensions, so we still have to open one up again to beat him. And Lisa’s now officially a member of Team Flash.”

There were various reactions to all of what he’d said, Len was sure. Shame about Bowie and Rickman, really. But he was a bit stuck on that last part.

“Want to run that by me again?” Len demanded, meeting his sister’s eyes.

“I am now head of security for The Flash, S.T.A.R. Labs, and all its employees.”

Mick was roaring with laughter now. If he didn’t bust a gut soon, Len would bust it for him.

“Why?” He asked Lisa.

She held his eyes with her own mercilessly.

“Because you left. After you promised me you’d never, ever abandon me. These people who were your enemies were there for me. They’re my friends now, Lenny. I love Cisco, and I’m going to protect him. Even if it’s from you.” Lisa took a deep breath, then smiled with a frightening sort of false cheeriness. “Besides, I finally found a day job that allows me to use my full potential.”

“Your full potential… for burglary and grifting?” Len asked skeptically. He wasn’t sure what to think, how to feel anymore. This day really was a winner.

“It’s quite easy, really. The feds do the same thing hiring ex-cons. I just think of how I’d break in, then what would stop me. It’s just playing defense instead of offense. And Flashie _really_ needed somebody to actively protect his identity. It was much too easy to find him out. Now it’s damn near impossible, if he remembers to follow protocol. If you have a problem with any of that, big brother, I highly suggest you go fuck yourself.”

Len kicked Mick in the shin in an ornery attempt to get him to shut up. The entire ensemble seemed to be waiting for his response.

“We can talk about this later.” Len stated.

“Oh, really?” Lisa replied. “I thought you might want to know ahead of time exactly what I’ve told my new friends.”

The pain in his nose was magnified as he narrowed his eyes at her. Len _hated_ to argue with Lisa in front of people. Their fights had always been loud, ugly, and rather embarrassing for one or both of them. Usually him. But even his patience ran out eventually.

Canary whispered audibly to Rip, “Someone should make popcorn.”

“What did you do?” he asked in a reasonable, quiet voice.

It was Barry who cut in then. “Not much, really. Gave us a bit of context. A few really fascinating stories.”

She didn’t.

“Like why you hit particular targets. The Santinis, for instance.”

She did.

“See, I didn’t know you found human trafficking so offensive. You drove every single person in the business out of Central City. On principle. You were especially nasty to those engaged in forced prostitution and taking kids.”

His sister had tattled on him for the first time in their lives. But instead of running her mouth off about what Len had done wrong, she’d told his very annoying and persistent enemy about the things he’d done right.

“Or that you keep Central City so well controlled that once you left, violent crime raised 19%. I’m also fairly certain you’re the reason that for a city this big, we’ve got the lowest rate for sex crimes in the country. Because every thug on the street is terrified of what you’ll do to them if they cross that line and you hear about it.”

Len hadn’t actually known his reputation had been quite so effective. Too bad Barry was ripping all of that to shreds.

“Apparently, we’re all much better off with you around than any other criminal that might take your place.”

He could feel himself losing his temper. That hadn’t happened in a long, long time. Len stared at the Flash, who looked so damned smug he wanted to hit him. Barry, just blabbing away in front of all of these people he didn’t trust to have that kind of very dangerous, very personal information. Len could hear the cheap metal chair creaking as he gripped the seat.

“You really are terrible at being a villain. There _is_ good in you.”

That dopey grin was really pissing him off.

“You know what I think, _Lenny_? I think you didn’t want to have to try to explain your reasons to your sister when you left. What did you tell Mick? That you’d commit crime across history?”

He felt his eye twitch as Mick’s head snapped around to stare at Len like he’d never seen him before. Canary murmured, “I knew this was going to be good.”

The Flash laughed. Laughed at him, right in his _face_.

“Oh, God, that’s so cliche! Too cliche, even for you! I’m sure you had more than one reason. But I’m also sure those reasons weren’t nearly as nefarious as you’d want us to think. You’re not evil, Lenny. You’re just a guy who won’t stop taking other people’s stuff.”

He knew the muscles in his neck were standing out. Len was breathing heavily, trying to remember how to count like he usually did. It had always worked before. Before Barry fucking Allen had made everything so messy.

“I even know why you didn’t tell us you were going. You’d have bragged about it, normally. But you just couldn’t stand to hear me say it.”

Barry was giggling like a little kid now. Len’s hand was aching to hold his gun. Just to shut him up. Get him to shut his fucking big smiling mouth.

“I told you so.”

Len snapped. He was up, snarling, knocking over his chair in his haste to point the cold gun at his enemy, the whirring sound of the gun’s core powering up echoing throughout the large room. Everyone got up and back abruptly, making shocked noises, talking, Len didn’t care. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d lost his temper. Years and years at least. All he could see, all he could hear, was Barry Allen. Laughing at him. Like he was some kind of joke.

“Don’t fucking push me, Barry.”

Ray whispered to Sarah, “Wait, he’s known who the Flash was this whole time?”

“This is so much better than cable.” She replied.

Len could hear his own teeth creaking as he ground them together. He wasn’t helping his case here. He just needed a few seconds to cool off.

“Push you, Len? Like this?” And then Barry was up in his face in an instant. And at normal human speed, reached out and shoved Len in the chest. What was this, fucking grade school?

“I’m warning you, kid-”

“Oh, come on. What are you going to do, shoot me? Go ahead. I dare you.”

He was six feet away before anyone could take a breath. Len was losing track of how long this argument had been going on. He doubted he’d ever been this furious in his entire life. Mercurial moods were Lisa’s thing. He never, ever lost it. Until now. Len should just shoot the Flash and end this whole thing here, before it somehow got any worse.

Everyone in the room watched from safe positions as Captain Cold pointed his signature weapon, the Flash’s weakness, at his foe at point blank range. A shot from this distance couldn’t miss, and would certainly be fatal.

“Just stop talking! You don’t know anything!”

“I double dog dare you.”

That stupid grin again. Like he knew something Len didn’t, and was mocking him with it. Leonard pulled the trigger.

The white flame of the cold gun went rushing at the Flash’s head-

-and went wide, streaming past the hero into the open air to his left. Frost was forming on one side of the kid’s mask. But Barry hadn’t flinched. He didn’t even blink.

“Having an off day, Cold? Here, let me help you with your aim.”

And he was rushing forward, seizing Len’s gun hand. Then he deliberately placed the barrel of the gun to his own forehead, right between those big, soft hazel eyes.

“ _Are you completely insane_?” Len blurted out, quietly. He felt the question entirely justified.

“Nope. Just calling your bluff.”

He didn’t even have the decency to look concerned for his own well being. Len growled, pushing the gun harder against Barry’s skull.

While his entire world had narrowed to the two of them, he’d somehow forgotten to pay attention to his surroundings. Len was very lucky that Barry had not.

An arrow buzzed through the air, angled down from the rafters. Without moving anything but his arm, the Flash snatched it out of the air a bare inch from Len’s jugular, snapping the metal projectile in his fist.

“Stay out of this, Arrow. It’s between him and me.”

“I’m with the killer on this one, Flash. Have you gone mad?” The modulated voice came from above, but Len had yet to break eye contact with the young man currently at his mercy.

Barry ignored the Arrow, keeping his focus on Cold.

“Stop trying to- _save me_!” Len barked, gun hand shaking. He didn’t know if it was with rage or fear, or something else altogether.

“No.”

“I swear to God I’ll do it!”

“No you won’t.”

The hero’s smile wasn’t mocking anymore. It was kind, gentle.

“I have complete faith in you.”

Len had a sudden, incredible feeling that time had stopped altogether.

How was he supposed to respond to that?

How was he supposed to keep bullshiting and posturing, bluffing his way through everything, trusting no one except Mick (most of the time) and Lisa. Who had paid a betrayal with a betrayal.

But that wasn’t quite right anymore.

He trusted Barry.

Everyone did on some level. Trusted the Flash to save the day. Trusted Barry with anything and everything because he didn’t have an ounce of guile in him. He was a genuinely good man. Barry would do anything for a complete stranger.

Hell, the kid was doing all this for an enemy. Sure, the lines had blurred a bit here and there. But they had always been on opposite sides.

No one had ever actually forced Len to show his hand before. It took a hell of alot of guts.

One day shit like this was going to get the Flash killed.

But not today.

Len slowly lowered, then holstered the cold gun. He was never, ever going to hear the end of this.

“Fine. I’m not going to kill you today. Are you happy now?”

Barry’s smile was so sickeningly bright and sweet it made him uneasy. Suddenly a red-clad hand was clapping him on the arm in a friendly sort of way.

“Yeah, I’m good. Is anyone else hungry? I could eat like a mountain of burgers.”

The looks on the faces of everyone around them was nearly worth that ordeal, Len thought. They were all gaping at the Flash and Captain Cold standing together in the center of the room almost amicably.

“I told you we should have made popcorn!” Sarah quipped.

“Well I guess the gang’s all here now.” Len quirked his head at the rigid forms crouched in the rafters, glancing at Barry. “Big Belly Burger?”

“Sounds good, buddy!” And now the Flash had an arm around his shoulder. How sweet. He shoved it off.

“Don’t push your luck, kid. We are not friends.”

“That’s what you think, Lenny. I’ll wear you down eventually.”

As the Flash left the room practically skipping before turning into a blur of red motion, everyone stared at Captain Cold, completely poleaxed.

“Killing him would take all the fun out of it.” He snapped, following Barry just to get the hell out of there. Len needed time and space to think. What he got was a greasy paper bag shoved in his face.

“Here you go!” The Flash said, holding massive bags of food and soft drinks.

Len tried to be angry. He spent a lot of time trying to hate Barry. But he couldn’t. It would be like kicking a puppy. And according to the new data, Len was a crook, a thief, and a dick, but not a monster. He took the bag.

“Talk about your fast food.” He smirked as Barry strode past him.

The Flash turned halfway to beam at him, still walking away.

“You should really eat it before it gets cold, Cold.”

As he sat on a counter and ate his food, drinking in the dark and quiet for a bit, Len supposed the day could have gone worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, feedback, kudos, and messages are welcome and appreciated! Hopefully I will continue to put up at least one chapter a week!  
> Silly interlude:  
> "We are very disappointed in you all! Now you go straight to bed without killing Vandal Savage!"  
> Time Dad got nothin' on Caitlin Dad.  
> "Where have you been? We've been worried sick! I'm just so glad you're all right!"  
> Also Flash Mom.
> 
> I regret nothing!


	4. Up to Speed: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> STORY SUMMARY: Instead of 2046, the Waverider crashes more than a month after the Legends left. With the ship lost, possibly forever, the Legends must return to the shambles of the lives they left, while joining forces with Team Flash immediately after the breaches to alternate worlds have been closed. What will they do now? And why are time travelers now struggling against the clock?  
> AU before the end of LoT episode 1x5 and The Flash episode 2x14  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> CHAPTER SUMMARY: The true horrors of time travel are not necessarily what may have happened, but what was supposed to happen all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE! : I am so fucking sorry this took so long, and so fucking flattered by the response I got from you lovely people! But I feel like I have to tell you all this up front right now. I hate The Arrow TV show. I realize this opinion is likely quite unpopular, since tie in shows and blah blah blah. I like Felicity. But every other element of that show is my least favorite version of Green Arrow of all time, and I’m not even a huge fan. Felicity will be here sometimes. Because she’s fun. But otherwise? Not gonna have Arrow stuff. Fight me if you want, but it’s my fic. Too bad, so sad.
> 
> But guess what? Now we get to the real plot!

          Everyone decided to take two days to cool off and get some things in order before a new and more official meeting was scheduled between Team Flash and the Legends. Sarah and Ray reminisced with Team Arrow before the archers and co. went back to Star City.

          Barry was going to have one last chat with Ollie before the older man returned to his own stomping grounds. They stood on the roof of S.T.A.R. labs, staring out over the half-frozen river. It was a good thing Cisco had made automatic thermal coil upgrades to the Flash suit. February in Central City was _freezing._

          “You’re too trusting Barry. It’s going to get you hurt.”

          He didn’t appreciate the authoritative disapproval in Green Arrow’s voice, nor the abruptness of it. Barry had less experience in the hero business. He was younger, untrained, and naive.

          If he heard that line of bullshit one more time Barry was likely to run to the top of a mountain and scream his head off in frustration.

          “Well, I’m still here, Oliver. This is how we do things in Central. I’m not just going to stop being who I am because you think it’s a bad idea. I may not have thick skin, but I heal up pretty quick.”

          “You’re associating with thieves and arsonists. It worries me.” Ollie was trying to adopt a less threatening stance. He didn’t do it well.

          “I’m taking all the help I can get, Arrow. They don’t seem to be doing any harm while they’re helping us out.” Barry crossed his arms over his chest.

          “Yet.”

          That mountain was sounding pretty appealing. The Flash’s foot was tapping at such high speed there was a low buzzing sound in the air.

          “I’m a grown man. Get off my back, weren’t you wanted by the police in Star City? Stones and glass houses Ollie. Glider’s reformed. Cold and Heatwave will too.”

          “You don’t know that for sure.” Arrow was pacing now.

          “I know Lisa pretty well by now. And I know more about the three of them than you do. They’re a package deal, man. Lenny _just_ proved to all of us he isn’t a bad guy anymore.”

          “He proved he wouldn’t shoot you dead in front of a room full of super powered witnesses. And since when are you calling your nemesis by his first name?”

          “Oh, come on. After two super-evil speedsters, he’s hardly my nemesis. He could’ve killed me, exposed my identity, or just plain let me die more times than I can count. Len hasn’t. And I’m calling him by his name because he’s a person, Ollie. That’s the hero part _you_ don’t seem to get. All these villains we stop? They’re people.”

          Green Arrow didn’t seem to have a response to that. Barry gave himself a mental pat on the back. Oliver glowered under his hood.

          “I’ll be there for you when this blows up in your face.”

          Ollie was such a prick.

          “Fuck off, drama Queen. We’ve got this. I don’t need you or your self-righteous crap. Take your merry men back to your own city. ”

          And then Barry was off and running. There was nothing like going for a jog with the Speed Force for working off his frustrations. That, and finally getting in the last word with Green Arrow.

 

* * *

 

 

          Barry wasn’t privy to the details of everyone’s various reunions, but he knew they had varying degrees of success. Professor Stein seemed a tad shell-shocked. Maybe Clarissa wasn't as sweet an old lady as he'd originally thought. Jax had told his mother about his new profession and received unexpectedly overwhelming support. She even sent a huge batch of homemade cookies with Jax for him to share with the team, though he seemed a little embarrassed about it.

          The sudden absence of Lisa for a short while made Cisco cranky, but he knew she’d come back. Barry had it on good authority that they were taking things relatively slow, despite all of the times he’d stumbled upon them making out like a couple of teenagers.

          When Lisa and Cisco had suggested she stay around during the wait for news about her brother, Caitlin had been adamantly against it. Barry had talked her around though. Glider already had enough info on him to use it to her advantage, and hadn’t done so. Same as Cold.

          Barry couldn’t quite put his finger on why he’d been so upset when he’d heard Cold had run off on his little adventure. He was angry for being left out and suddenly dealing with an abrasive and emotionally unstable woman. The Flash was jealous of the Legends for not being included, sad because they hadn’t even bothered to clue him in. But something about the thought of Cold stuck somewhere in time and space bothered him just a little more than Barry thought it should.

          Lisa had started changing things around S.T.A.R. Labs her second day with them. She hadn’t asked permission or told anyone what she was doing. She just got to work. While the changes were hard to accept, unsolicited as they were, they were undeniably smart and effective.

          She’d had a bunch of drones she’d found lying around the old robotics division begin making security upgrades and renovations. Lisa asked Felicity to create several programs that prevented Barry’s real voice or face to be caught correctly on video when he was in the Flash suit, even if he wasn’t totally disguised. All of their cell phones were encrypted as _hell_ now. And Lisa demanded that he begin entering and leaving the labs through a new underground (i.e. sewer) entrance so his movements couldn’t be traced, even the red blur and telltale yellow lightning. And that was only the start of the list.

          Joe had also been unreceptive to the force of nature that was Lisa Snart entering their lives. Until Barry had messed up and forgotten to use the secret entrance. While he had run home to catch some sleep, the others had remained in the lab, brainstorming ways to catch an acid themed meta. Said meta had followed Barry back to the lab, and took the entire team hostage before they could call for backup. The entire team minus Lisa.

          While The Flash was sleeping on the job, and Cisco found his face uncomfortably close to “Acid Rayne”’s deadly dripping hand, Lisa showed up.

          Though apparently it was less “showed up” and more “Barry, I swear to God, she came out of the vent like a fucking ninja and blasted her with the Gold Gun while shouting “Hands off my boyfriend, you caustic bitch!” It was unbelievably hot!”

          After that point she'd been accepted by all on general principle, and Barry was more careful. She'd been assimilated as one of the girls (which scared all of the men on Team Flash to some degree). She’d opened up some, telling them stories about her life on the run with Mick and Lenny. They all began taking her advice, since who really had better insight into the criminals they faced?

          Well, all of them but Joe for a few more weeks.

He was apparently still miffed that Leonard Snart’s records now had enough errors that his pending patricide trial had been turned over by the DA, and rather than risk a scandal over “the sloppiest police work to ever grace her desk” Snart had even been pardoned for the break out. Besides, she'd accepted The Trickster’s confession to threatening Len’s life in order to get him to escape with them. Which was perhaps sort of true, and apparently had cost Lisa no more than bribing the middle aged whack job with a truly impressive care package of candy twice a month. Unlike Joe, Barry had decided to look on the bright side. Neither Joe nor himself had worked those cases, and the cops that had been disgraced had been pretty disgraceful already.

They searched for their missing friends, of course. Scans were developed to track tachyon particles. It wasn’t like they hadn’t dealt with the shit show that was time travel before. So those satellites Cisco had promised were indeed retasked. Computers ran searches at all times in the background of their usual operations, even while they’d been universe-hopping. Until a few days ago, when they’d got a hit.

They were arguing over Zoom again, still rattled by Jay’s death, when an alert flashed on all of their screens. Massive influx of tachyons over Kansas. The satellites showed in crystal clear images the area the particles had been detected. But there was nothing there. Cisco had been about to run a diagnostic when they saw it.

Ice had exploded from the surface of a lake, with no visible cause. Until one brief flicker of what could only be a spaceship appeared before vanishing under the dark water.

Barry was off and running that very second. He had no plan. He just had to get there, to help. Later, he would be told that The Flash had exceeded his previous top speed by more than fifty miles per hour. He’d finally fulfilled Cisco’s wish. Barry was on a long, flat stretch of road when the fabled sonic boom had snapped several frozen trees, toppling them like dominoes as he ran by, completely unconcerned and unaware. He couldn’t hear his friends shouting into the comm.

By the time The Flash had gotten to the lake, everyone had dragged themselves to the bank. The severity of the situation wasn’t lost on him. They weren’t conscious, they were all dying. Barry’d never made such fast, hard decisions as he had that day, but his mind was pretty quick, and he’d had work to do.

The Flash seized Martin Stein and Ray Palmer, and ran like hell. The elderly and the injured, basic triage. He’d gone even faster on his way back to S.T.A.R., and faster yet running back to Kansas. He’d lost all concept of time, wasn’t thinking about anything but saving lives.

He’d reasoned that Cold and Heatwave were next most vulnerable. They had no abilities, they were older by some margin. That was the logical choice, right? That country road had lost all the trees along it by now.

And Barry had gone back, again and again, not stopping for a moment. Kendra and Sarah. Then the stranger and Jax, youngest and fit. He would question his decisions that day for years to come, wondering if he’d make the right call next time. Instants could make the difference between life and death.

          They were all alive and inside S.T.A.R. Labs when he’d staggered in with the last of the team. Barry passed them off to the others, then braced himself against the nearest hospital bed, struggling to get enough air; his entire body felt like it was dying.

It was Cold’s bed. And he suddenly remembered all the stories Lisa had told about her big, not quite so bad brother. Barry just wanted them all to be safe. Please just let them be safe.

One of Cold’s eyes opened, focused on him, as blue as Leonard’s lips. Then it closed again. Barry remembered being relieved more than he remembered falling. The Flash cracked his head off the side of the bed, then tumbled to the floor, dead to the world.

Barry was the first to wake, hooked up to I.Vs and a feeding tube, which had been terrifying and disgusting. He’d overdone it, nearly killed himself, and didn’t feel a shred of remorse. Especially when Caitlin told him that all eight of the people he’d tried to save were going to be okay. Suddenly, it felt like one of the best days of his life, even confined to a hospital bed and forced to eat, and eat, and eat those horrible nutrition bars.

He’d saved every damned one of them. And he’d been faster than ever before, maybe even fast enough to match Zoom. The Flash was positive he could do it again, knew it in his bones.

The late Eobard Thawne had spent years trying to give Barry Allen the wrong kind of kick in the ass. Served him right.

 

 

* * *

 

 

          When the day of their briefing arrived, everything seemed bizarrely professional. Those who wore costumes arrived in them, though Firestorm was two people and thankfully not blazing from the head and hands. The rest of them carried tablets and papers to the conference room. They’d gotten sandwiches catered.

          After their altercation, Barry was a little worried Lenny wasn’t going to show. Maybe he’d gone too far. Maybe Oliver had been right, Barry’d been trying too hard to make him one of the good guys. Though it would be absurdly hippocritical of him, maybe Captain Cold was mad that The Flash had just out of the blue been calling him by his first name. Barry just felt like after all the time he’d spent with Lisa, he’d gone from Cold to Lenny. She was infectious that way.

          Barry had no reason to worry. Cold arrived with Heatwave and Golden Glider, wearing the parka with the hood up, open to show the cold gun in it’s holster, goggles on. But Len said very little, and sat in the back of the room, Mick and Lisa almost forming a barrier between Len and everyone else in the room.

          Maybe he _had_ gone too far.

          They had all arrived and made themselves comfortable when Barry cleared his throat.

          “Uh, thanks for coming to this almost too-official meeting.” He received a few chuckles and smiles for that.

          “Mostly, we’d like to catch you up on what’s been going on here, and for you to tell us about your mission.”

          So they traded stories. Exciting battles, covert missions, knockoff Boba Fett. It was all pretty cool, actually. Even if it took several hours.The ache Barry had felt about them being gone was starting to abate.

          “So we needed intel from this Russian scientist, and Ray suggested that he seduce her into telling us-” Sarah was trying to keep a straight face and failing.

          “I did not! I thought if I approached her as a fellow scientist-”

          “Oh, yeah sure. But she blows him off, and it’s absolutely brutal. Painful to listen to over the comms. And then Leonard-”

          She’s laughing, and the rest of the Legends are trying to spare Ray by reigning in their chuckles. All but Rip, who had been as quiet as the grave since he’d sat down, staring off to the side like he wasn’t even paying attention.

          “Leonard swoops in, asking if Ray had been bothering her. She’s all “I can take care of myself” and he plays it off and starts talking about the ballet. So she says she wants to skip it and asked Leonard to “walk her home”.” Sarah’s tone is blatantly suggestive.

          “Long story short, Leonard got what we needed while she gave him a very steamy good night kiss and then declined her offer to go bang upstairs like a gentleman. She was disappointed. But the best part of the whole thing is that he spent the whole night making those goddamn cold puns with her not even getting them while Ray is following them, freezing his balls off!”

          The story is well received with bouts of laughing, though Ray actually pouts over in his chair.

          “If you don’t mind, we need to get back to business. There is a very important matter to discuss.” Rip snapped suddenly. The room fell quiet.

          “I know you probably want to get right back to it, but we’d have to find a way to fish your ship out of the lake and fix it without anyone knowing, so that’s going to take a while.” Cisco said, giving a strained smile.

          Barry didn’t know Rip Hunter. He was trying to keep an open mind, be as friendly as possible. But his antics had already really pissed him off.

          “Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, since that is the case, we have a very time-sensitive problem.” He stood and walked to the head of the table, holding a little white box.

          “What kind of- You’re time travelers, why would you even-” Cisco seemed confused and annoyed at once. Barry was beginning to suspect that was common when dealing with this man.

          “Since we are here, on this date, unable to leave, we have to deal with a very significant event that is supposed to happen four days from now on February 14th, 2016 in Central City.”

          “What kind of significant event?” Martin asked, leaning forward in his chair.

          “It is actually several connected events, and a tad difficult to explain. In this particular case, there is absolutely no way to protect the original timeline. This is a direct result of our travels and my failure to return you all to your own time sooner.” Rip seemed torn.

          “Spit it out, Captain.” Mick growled.

          “On that date, those of you known as The Rogues- Mick Rory, Leonard and Lisa Snart…” He was obviously hesitant.

 

          “You were all supposed to die.”

 

          Shocked silence didn’t even begin to cover it. Then several people, Barry included, were standing and shouting all at once.

          “And you were just going to let that happen?”

          “If you knew that then why the hell-”

          “You were seriously going to throw them to the wolves?”

          “-stand by and let them die after they helped you?”

          Rip stood there guiltily. Everyone calmed down enough to let him explain, because surely there must be some kind of explanation for this.

          “If I had not recruited Mr. Snart and Mr. Rory, then one set of events including their deaths would have happened. I had originally planned on returning them immediately after we left, in order to preserve the timeline.”

          More angry shouting erupted for a time.

          “Please, let me finish. I know that plan was reprehensible. I had thought to keep time intact and kill Savage, I was thinking of nothing but revenge which is no excuse, but now that we’ve returned to this date, the timeline is irrevocably altered. There were two possible futures. I am prepared to disclose-”

          “How?”

          The attention was on Cold now.

          “I’m sorry? I-” Rip stuttered.

          “As you should be, Rip. But before we get to what’s going to happen now, you’re going to tell us how it was supposed to go down.” Len seemed calm. Barry couldn’t fathom how.

          Rip sighed.

“You? In a particularly gruesome mob-style execution. Miss Snart and Mr. Rory followed as part of what came to be known as “The Saints and Sinners Valentine’s Day Massacre”. I believe you’re familiar with the locale.”

          It was silent in the room.

          “Santinis?”

          Barry stared incredulously at Leonard.

          “Yes.” was Rip’s reply.

          “Elaborate.”

          Rip couldn’t seem to break eye contact with Cold’s blue goggles. Snart was suddenly menacing even casually sitting in his chair, weapon holstered.

          Rip nodded, then finally looked away.

          “All right, all of the details. Though it won’t be easy to hear.”

          He took a deep breath.

          “After the three of you forced them out of town-”

          “YOU took out the Santinis? Just you three?” Joe demanded.

          “Yes. Didn’t like the way they do business.” Len drawled.

          “Getting back to it,” Rip butted in. “they were completely incensed, the laughingstock of all the other crime families in the country. So they planned on making a comeback. They grabbed you on the 13th. Beat you, some. Then at dawn…”

          “Come on, don’t leave us hanging now.” Cold prompted.

          “They took you to the docks. Chained you to a chair and a bunch of lead weights. They shot you multiple times but left you alive, then kicked the chair over into the river.”

          Jax shuddered. Barry imagined he was remembering the lake.

          “And me and Mickey?” Lisa demanded.

          “Shortly after, the two of you realized he was missing and called everyone you could think of to meet up at your favorite bar. By the time everyone got there, the Santinis had followed and set up outside. They used military grade weaponry, and gunned down everyone inside through the front wall. After they went in and confirmed no survivors, they burnt the building to the ground. Seventeen people in total died that day. Including the three of you.”

          Several people at the table looked like they would be sick.

          Rip’s gaze landed on Barry. “Flash, there are parts of the rest of the story that would compromise your identity. I could disclose them more privately-”

          Barry ripped off his mask with a snarl, glaring daggers at the pompous son of a bitch.

          “I’m Barry Allen, CSI. Now you better finish explaining yourself, buddy, or several someones are likely to kick your ass.”

          Mick and Jax looked very ready to oblige, at least.

          Rip shrank back, then slumped.

          “You had to process the crime scene.”

          Barry’s eyes widened in horror.

          “You had to identify the bodies.”

          He was sure he was turning green, he felt so nauseous.

          “And since you couldn't find Leonard Snart’s among them, you began compiling data and feeding it into a program you took from your doppleganger on Earth-2. You worked on coding, tracking software, anything you could think of to find him, assuming Leonard was alive, to tell him what had happened to his sister.

          After three weeks they found his body at the bottom of the river. ...You had to process that scene as well. The ...damage was such that you didn’t get a positive ID for some time.”

          Barry was out of the room, retching into a toilet in a split second. He could practically see the things Rip had described, knew what it would have been like to wade through carnage like every day at work, only to discover they’d been people he’d known. People that he’d never bought being as bad as they said they were. Lisa was a friend now, what if-

          He remained there, throwing up until there was nothing left in him. He flushed the toilet and stood shakily to wash his mouth and face in cold water. Barry walked back to the conference room, dripping, shaking a little.

          No one had moved. They’d waited for him, staring with sympathy and who knew what else. The Flash returned to his chair without a word.

          Rip began talking again, quietly.

          “You had a… rough time for a while. You blamed yourself for not preventing the deaths. You spent all of your spare time trying to create software that could feed you information about crimes as they were happening, but with the ability to prioritize and take your limitations into account. Whether you’d want to be woken up or interrupted to stop a crime or when to let the minor ones go so you could recuperate from physical damage. You didn’t know at the time, but that work you did with the program from Earth 2 is absolutely vital to humanity at a later date.”

          “Gideon.” Barry said hoarsely. Several of the Legends looked shocked. Rip looked like he might have a seizure. Barry had a dark thought that the man might deserve it.

          “How could you possibly know about Gideon?” Rip explained.

          “Because fucking time travel, asshole.” Barry glowered at Rip.

          “I see… well-” Rip spluttered for a bit before calming down.

          “Since Gideon is so highly influential in your future and my own time, the Time Masters have a ban on interfering with this time period at all, in case it would jeopardize her. I had thought to minimize- I’m now certain I couldn’t have actually gone through with it.”

          “All- all right, so what about now? You mentioned possible outcomes?” Stein spoke up.

          “The only outcome that is certain is the one in which these three die, but it has been drastically altered in a catastrophic fashion.” Rip returned.

          “And when we save them?” Cisco queried, clutching Lisa like a lifeline.

          “...there’s no data whatsoever. This date and it’s events… they are the first domino for any number of possibilities. If these outcomes do not occur… the future will be changed. There is no way to know how, Gideon can extrapolate probabilities, but she cannot see the future. All of her data comes from memory banks from a future that would no longer exist, in which-”

          “In which we all die.” Cold said quietly.

          “I’m afraid so.”

          “So when you fed us a line about being legends in your time, you lied. And when you took it back, said we were actually the ones no one would miss… it was because we were going to die soon, huh?” Barry still couldn’t believe that Lenny was so collected. He was supposed to be doomed to die horribly in a few days!

          “What happens if we kick the bucket now?” He’d drawn his cold gun, tracing the barrel aimlessly on the table.

          “The worst case scenario.” Rip had straightened a bit. Cold murmured a few words to Mick that Barry couldn’t hear.

          Caitlin frowned. “Then what’s the best case scenario?”

          “No, that’s not what I meant! Now, if we fail to stop their deaths, the future becomes… the worst possible future I have ever seen, even in the libraries of the time masters.”

          Mick had begun inching around the table, slowly, casually. Few of them seemed to notice, least of all Rip.

          “What happens?” Jax demanded. “We deserve to know the stakes.”

          “I have no way of knowing what giving you this information could do. There are endless paradoxes and-”

          Mick’s huge fist clamped around Rip’s throat as his other hand snatched the little white box from him and tossed it.

          Barry caught it, stunned.

          Rip’s eyes glazed over. Mick released the unconscious man so he fell to the floor in a heap. Then he gave him a slight kick.

          “I’m very tempted to put him in the pipeline.” Caitlin said quietly.

          “All in favor of putting Captain Hunter on ice for a while?” Len asked the group.”

          Martin groaned at the joke, but raised his hand with the rest of them. It was unanimous.

          Barry grabbed the Time Master and was off, putting him in a cell and returning in a blink.

          “I really hate that guy.” He said softly, picking up the white box. It had no buttons or grooves.

          “What is it?” Barry asked Len.

          “That’s Gideon. She does anything you say, since you’re her creator, right?” Snart smirked. “So maybe we’ve been questioning the wrong entity.”

          “Yeah, great idea!” Barry nodded enthusiastically, inspecting the device. “Do you know how to turn it on? Also, how did you know she’d listen to me?”

          “I spied on you quite a bit a while back. Heard you talking about it, then figured more out on the _Waverider_. Certainly helpful to have an A.I., but alas, I don’t know where her on switch is.” He’d put the cold gun away, sauntering over to take a look.

          Professor Stein stood to get a better look as well. “On the ship Gideon responded to verbal commands.”

          “Wait just a second, guys. What if we do make things worse? Should we really be doing this to the timeline?” Ray asked nervously.

          Barry considered this.

          “Screw the timeline.”

          The box blazed with white light as a palm sized Gideon was suddenly suspended above Barry’s hands.

          “Hello, Barry Allen.”

          Sarah snorted. “The code phrase was “screw the timeline”?”

          “I am programmed to accept any number of commands from Barry Allen in order to activate. I was coded to provide assistance to aid him regardless of time period or possible alterations to the timeline, so any phrase concerning disregarding the timeline falls under acceptable parameters. Other key phrases include “Open sesame, Are you there Gideon, it’s me, Barry-”

          That got a few laughs out of them.

          “Okay, okay. Thanks, Gideon. So what should we ask first?” Barry asked the group.

          “First, change ownership to you, and lock Rip out.” Leonard seemed very pleased with that idea. Barry was too.

          “Let’s do that, then.” He said to the hologram, setting the little box on the table.

          “Done. How else may I assist you, Barry Allen?” The little head turned to the side a little.

          “Everyone in this room is cleared for access of all the information you have except for any personal data on anyone else in the room.”

          “Done.”

          “Barry are you sure about that?” Joe asked, eyeing Heatwave.

          “Yes. Now then. This timeline we’re disregarding.” The Flash grinned at them all. “Gideon, as it stands now, if Leonard and Lisa Snart and Mick Rory die as time originally intended, what will happen?”

          “I know you prefer chronological explanations, Barry Allen-”

          “First, please call me Barry from now on, unless I’m dressed as the Flash. Then just call me the Flash, okay?”

          “All right, Barry. Would you like me to provide visuals as well?” Gideon asked politely.

          “Yes.”

          The box projected a larger hologram of Gideon to the middle of the table. Everyone resumed their previous seats.

          “I will start at the beginning, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my life did a complete 180 and I've been dealing with that fallout. I might blog about it, my head's still spinning from all the drama and changes. So I really am sorry it took this long, and hopefully things have settled enough for me to get back to writing and life and stuff.
> 
> And yes, I did start a two-part chapter and leave it off on a cliffhanger. I love the suspense! AHAHAHAHA!
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading! Hope you like the direction it's going, comments, kudos, messages and what have you are greatly appreciated!


	5. Up to Speed: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> STORY SUMMARY: Instead of 2046, the Waverider crashes more than a month after the Legends left. With the ship lost, possibly forever, the Legends must return to the shambles of the lives they left, while joining forces with Team Flash immediately after the breaches to alternate worlds have been closed. What will they do now? And why are time travelers now struggling against the clock?  
> AU before the end of LoT episode 1x5 and The Flash episode 2x14  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> CHAPTER SUMMARY: The true horrors of time travel are not necessarily what may have happened, but what was supposed to happen all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to fuck I don't intend to stop writing this story. Life has been completely batshit and this chapter along with at least the next one have been EXCRUCIATING to write but are super duper important. This much has been kicking around for a while and I decided to post what I had and move on to the next part. Hope it's worth the wait! Srsly, sorry y'all.

There was an air of anticipation as they waited for Gideon to begin her explanation. Cisco had an arm around Lisa’s shoulders and was whispering to her soothingly. Mick looked so rigid in his seat that Barry was concerned anything could break him into little pieces.

          “Before I give you any more information, I have been programmed to give you a message, Barry.”

          He frowned, staring at Gideon. “What kind of message? From who?”

          “From you. The version of you that created this version of me, several years into the future. It is flagged as an absolutely vital message in cases of altering timelines. Shall I play it now?”

          Barry was a little apprehensive. Himself… From the future. He was really going to have to work on getting used to that. Barry nodded, unable to speak.

          There was a flare of bright light, and Gideon’s face was gone, replaced by a projection of a man. Barry Allen.

He looked almost exactly the same. His hair was longer and he looked more muscular. Holo-Barry was also wearing a white lab coat with, bafflingly, a name tag that clearly read “Dr. Allen”.

          However, the best part was the t-shirt under the coat. It was deep blue, with bold white text that read:

          “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey… stuff.”

          Barry let out a short, hysterical giggle before he managed to stop himself.

“Hi, Barry! I’m you from the future!” The hologram grinned at him and waved emphatically. “Heads up, you will one day get used to saying that. I’m making this message and embedding it deep down in Gideon’s code because I want you to know the secret to time travel as early as possible.”

          Barry could see shocked reactions from several of the people around him, but he was a little too shell-shocked to pay much attention. Was there an answer to the problems of time travel so simple that they could be solved by… talking to himself?

          “Hopefully by now you’ve at least figured out that you can time travel. If not, sorry for not including a spoiler alert?” The hologram shrugged. “I’m making this up as I go along. Which is exactly the advice I made this message for.”

          “You’ve likely heard from someone that you have to preserve the timeline at all costs. Hell, maybe no one said anything and you’re assuming that’s what you should do because you’ve made mistakes. Or because we watched Back to the Future too much as a kid.”

          “But since I’m you, I also know you believe you were given these powers for a reason. And why would you have the power to time travel if you weren’t meant to use it? So let me break it down for you. Whatever time you live in? Do whatever it takes to save it. Don’t blindly follow a predetermined course of events. Time itself will probably fight you. There will be consequences. But take it from someone who knows, it’s better to fight for the good things in your life than to let them be destroyed because some asshat from the future told you not to act.”

          Caitlin let out an indelicate snort, trying to muffle a laugh. Cisco was staring, wide eyed at the hologram, mouth hanging open. Lisa closed it for him.

          Barry spared a glance at Leonard, suddenly feeling vaguely uneasy. Len’s face had that laser focus that made him so dangerous, and he was examining the hologram with a smirk and a look in his eye Barry couldn’t place, and wasn’t sure he liked.

          Holo-Barry was grinning. “Yeah, there’s always going to be multiple asshats from the future, too. Sorry. So if you have to time travel? Do it. Need to alter something? Go ahead. Take the consequences as they come.”

          He gestured at his shirt with a smirk that Barry would swear he’d never been able to pull off before. “Your life is basically going to be like Dr. Who. It’s pretty cool. Also, in case you’re still figuring some things out? Try to start thinking of science fiction and fantasy as legitimate source material. A lot of it is definitely not fiction anymore. Uh, that’s all the advice I can think of?”

          His future self looked to the side for a bit, then made a shooing motion as if to someone off screen.

          “We speedsters have got to live in the moment, Barry. It’s the only way you’ll be able to sleep at night. Besides, it’s not like any changes you make to your own future are really out of your control. Just do your best, man.”

He moved as if to turn off a machine before pausing.

          “Oh, wait! I promised Cisco I’d do something.”

          Cisco sat up excitedly, apparently anticipating something.

          The projection leaned over, gazing into what must be some kind of camera, a silly grin on his face.

          “Help me, Barry Allen. You’re my only hope.”

          “YES!” Cisco shouted, pumping his fist and cackling. Sarah laughed along with him, slapping his back in a friendly gesture. From the way he doubled over, she may have overdone it.

          The projection of Barry Allen was gone. Gideon’s face reappeared in his place. No one said anything for several minutes.

          “Well, that’s a relief.” Barry said abruptly, moving to get something to drink. “Can we move on? If I think about this any more my head is going to implode.”

          “So, back to my imminent demise then?” Len asked, tilting his head and watching Barry move across the room.

          “The thing that’s not going to happen because we’re going to stop it? Yes, let’s get back to it.” Barry sat back down with his can of soda. “Gideon, we need to know everything that concerns the deaths of Leonard Snart, Mick Rory, and Lisa Snart on the 14th. The way everything would have played out if Captain Hunter hadn’t showed up.”

“Very well.”

Another flash of light, but now it was a 2D image projected on the far wall. Four men in black suits, coats, and gloves gathered around a man chained to a chair. The image bobbed around slightly, indicating a gruesome sort of home movie. Barry pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and began writing any information that might pertain to the... case... with a shaking hand. _At least 5 suspects._

          “Oh god, no! I don’t want to watch this!” Lisa screamed.

          The footage stopped.

          “I apologize. Did I misunderstand? You asked to see what happens.” Gideon seemed apologetic.

          “We need to see all of it. We need this information so we can prevent these events. No matter- no matter what.” Len said, staring at his own bleeding face.

          “Play it.” Sarah said. “Play it all and just remember none of it is going to happen. It’s not real.”

          The footage came to life.

          “Well, Snart. Looks like the end of the line, huh? Where’s your friend in the red suit now?” The first of the men advanced on Cold.

          Barry heard soft crying in the background behind him, and several other people writing things down. But he couldn’t take his eyes from the footage if his life depended on it.

          Leonard’s parka was barely more than rags over a torso covered in shallow cuts. His pants were intact, but Len’s left leg was cruelly broken, jutting out at an unmistakable angle. His face was mostly recognizable, his nose broken and eyes blackened. Blood fell sluggishly from various cuts. His hands had obviously been worked over by a professional. Barry couldn’t look at them.

He was wrapped in chains, and Barry noticed a considerable number of heavy weights on the ground that were also chained to the chair. Len sat immobile, perched precariously at the very edge of a dock. Barry’s hand was writing; he was trying to process this as if it were normal evidence. He managed, though deep down a large part of him was gibbering in horror.

          “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” The recorded Len said, more composed than Barry thought possible as usual.

          “Give it up, Snart. Everyone knows you’ve been cozying up to the Flash. The whole town knows you told him about Mardon and the whacko’s plan at Christmas, even after they busted you out of jail. Mardon’s a… friend of the family, see.”

          The man who’d been speaking was heavyset, Barry noted, pen going furiously without him really registering it. Len died… Because he’d helped Barry?

          “He said that you didn’t even want to kill the Flash. Tried to talk them out of trying, wouldn’t even budge or give a decent reason. You think people really buy that you think he’s good for business? And, well let’s face it. You haven’t exactly been good to us honest crooks since you threw the Santini’s out, have you?”

          Len’s murderous glare was erased suddenly as the man casually pulled out a silenced pistol and shot him in the shoulder. He grunted, contorting in pain as the chair wobbled slightly.

          “Careful there, don’t want to move too much, do you?”

Leonard was gasping, leaning forward into the chains to keep the chair from falling back, one leg of it perched right at the edge of the dock.

“Can we just skip to the part where you blow my brains out? Listening to you yammer on is getting old quick.”

“Oh, we’re not going to shoot you Snart. Well, not shoot you dead anyway.”

The man fired again, Len’s other shoulder spurted blood as he  grunted, trying to keep his weight forward to fight the shot’s momentum along with the pain.

“Who is he?”

Len looked sharply at his would be killer. “What?”

“Who is the Flash?”

Len tilted his head mockingly. “What makes you think I know who he is under that mask?”

          “I have my sources. So here’s the deal. You tell us, we make your death quick and clean. Then the Santinis pick up where we left off, as soon as we kill the Flash.” He’d been gesturing with the gun as he paced back and forth. The other men had remained perfectly still.

          Len laughed harder than Barry had ever seen, grimacing and maintaining his ridiculous posture.

          “The mob? Kill the Flash? Oh that’s good. You should take your stand-up on tour, Dobbs.”

          Another gunshot impacted his unbroken leg, grazing his calf and spinning the chair. It fell heavily, with Len’s head and shoulders hanging out over the steel grey river.

          “Pick him up.”

          The other suits moved in unison to set the chair and its occupant back to its original position. Len sagged in his seat a bit, but his eyes held a mad gleam that Barry found very alarming.

          “Who is he?”

          “Why don't you ask him? I know he's a bit camera shy, but he'd probably come out of the woodwork to put you all away. You could ask him then!”

  The next shot went to his broken leg, right in the thigh. Len gave a hoarse shout as the chair skidded back once again.

  “How about you tell us, and we don't kill your pretty little sister?”

  Barry suddenly barely recognized the man in the chair, but it wasn't the cuts or bruises. The desperate cold rage, the snarling face, the furiously helpless eyes were all new to him.

  The man who had been identified as Dobbs chuckled as he pulled a new clip out and reloaded.

   “See, everyone in our business used to respect you. You were the best. They were always too scared to mess with you, but they did pick up on one thing. You'd do ANYTHING for your sister. Probably Rory too. How bout I just kill everyone you know? It's not like you can fucking stop me!”

   He fired a shot into Leonard's gut. Len grunted from the pain. The chair scooted back.

   “What's it gonna be Snart? Death by torture? Your whole crew dead? Or are you going to do what you do best and just fucking talk already?”

   There were several seconds of utter silence and stillness. Leonard's face turned pensive. He wore his calculating face that Barry was so familiar with. Then Cold shrugged.

   “Okay. I've got something to say. Fuck the Santinis. They're the lowest scum of the criminal world and that will never change.”

   Another shot, this one into his right arm above the elbow. He made no noise now. Len was balancing on the chair, but it was different somehow. Barry was suddenly scared as hell, but he didn't know why.

   “I'm not telling you one goddamn thing. I'd let you torture me until I was a pile of meat just to piss you off, but there is one thing you stupid fucks should know. In thirty seconds, there will be no reason for you to kill anyone but me. Nobody else knows anything. It'd be a waste of time and ammo.”

   “And why should I listen to you?”

   The final shot hit Leonard in the abdomen again, and the back legs of the chair wobbled dangerously to the edge of the dock. He laughed, spitting blood.

   “Because it's generally considered polite to listen to a person's last words, you miserable sack of shit. I'd rather die than give you one single fucking inch. You can't make me do or say a damn thing. You've given me nothing to lose! So basically, Dobbs-”

   There was a moment of quiet horror as Leonard Snart pitched his weight backwards, sending him over the edge of the dock and over the iron grey water. The last thing Barry heard as he watched the man currently sitting not ten feet from him die was-

   “There are no strings on me!”

   It was less of a splash and more of a thunderclap when he vanished from view into the river. The cameraman jogged up to the edge, but the surface of the water was smooth save for a few bubbles.

   “Shit. Turn off the stupid camera, Malone. We didn't get what we came for. At least he's dead.”

   There was a jarring blast of static before the projection faded altogether.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yeah, there's going to be a certain amount of fuck you to the shows' writers and how they handle time travel. Rewatched LoT with my new boyfriend the science nerd, thought he was having a goddamn aneurysm. But we both still love the show ;)

**Author's Note:**

> More content at my blog and tumblr as I write. Feel free to message me!  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ktastrophic  
> http://www.ktastrophe.com/


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